Josef Laufer was one of the few artists ( like Karel Gott, Waldemar Matuska, Vaclav Neckar, Hana Hegerova) from Communist Czechoslovakia who got to record in Western Germany. Of course they also recorded and performed in East-Germany, a socialist brother-country.

Here you can see Josef Laufer playing alongside Vaclav Necker in a Czech musical. The guy posing on the ladder in the denim jacket, that´s him. Very cool. I can already hear the Russian tanks rolling in the back …

I have four of Josef Laufer´s early EPs that he made for the Czech Supraphon label, and even one on the Romanian Electrecord label, but none are as rockin´ as these two songs here, that he sings in German.

As I`ve written before in some older posts, I discovered East-European beat music when I moved to Berlin in 1997 and then developed a habit of buying those records in huge quantities. And cheap too then. I don`t find much any more, the collector-market has caught on, so my own collection seems to be stagnating.

Back then I found them anywhere: in thrift stores, book stores, record stores, even in the trash. This record was from a East-Berlin library that sold their vinyl stock. It has a small sticker saying “Einlage”(store-copy). Mihai Constantinescu is a popular Romanian artist who is still working. He played with the seminal Romanian rock band Mondial and then took of for a solo career.

“Teiul”, written by Constantinescu himself, is a swinging soul/pop/beat dance number with nice horns and organ.

About me:
My name is Andreas Michalke. I´m a cartoonist from Berlin, Germany and I like collecting records. Most of the records I find in thrift stores or at flea markets here in Berlin. I like a lot of music but I thought I`d focus on odd German records. Preferably with cartoon covers.
All my scans are high-resolution. If you double-click on them they will get much bigger.

1. I will not use material, that is already available in digital format elsewhere.

2.The artists I present are either anonymous or pseudonymous or dead or no longer active.

3. I feel that if nobody has cared to reissue a record in 50 years, it is fair to present it.

Note: Please don´t ask for re-ups. I don´t have time for that. What´s gone is gone.